Tiny Dragonfly Wins Big in Competition

The dragonfly, which is as small as a dust mote, wins the design contest for novel
microelectromechanical systems.

The dragonfly features biologically mimetic wings about the width of five human hairs,
and is intended to generate aerodynamic lift and thrust by flapping its wings.

A dragonfly as small as a dust mote, its four tiny wings beating like it had momentarily
alit on a lily pad designed by Texas Tech University engineering students, was a winner
in this year’s design contest for novel microelectromechanical systems (MEMS), held at Sandia National Laboratories.

The gadget opens new possibilities in the design of aerial surveillance devices, which
have many uses, from quantifying the radiation leaking from damaged Japanese nuclear
reactors to delineating enemy positions.

The dragonfly features biologically mimetic wings about the width of five human hairs.
It is intended to generate aerodynamic lift and thrust by flapping its wings instead
of a motor-driven propeller or jet thrust. Flapping is achieved when small intermittent
electric currents cause thermal expansion and contraction in the wings. Clever engineering
uses the wing material’s response to create strokes that are more aerodynamic and
hence more efficient.

“Among the countless insect species able to fly, we chose the dragonfly because it
flaps its wings in the vertical direction, rather than back-and-forth or in a rotary
motion,” said Oak. “The vertical motion of the large wings in our design not only
provides greater surface area for lift than most flying insects but the wings cool
faster, enabling faster flapping.”

A highly sensitive microvalve, designed by students at Carnegie Mellon University,
was the winner of the educational MEMS. This year’s contest participants also included
the universities of Oklahoma and Utah, and the Air Force Institute of Technology.

The two winning teams will see their designs birthed in Sandia’s microfabrication
facility, one of the most advanced in the world.

About the Contest

The contest is open to institutional members of the Sandia-led MEMS University Alliance
program, part of Sandia’s outreach to universities to improve engineering education.
It provides an arena for the nation’s student engineers to hone their skills in designing
and using microdevices. Such devices are used to probe biological cells, arrange and
operate components of telecommunications and high-tech machinery and operate many
home devices and strengthen national security.

The entire contest process takes almost nine months. It starts with students developing
ideas for a device, followed by creation of an accurate computer model of a design
that might work, analysis of the design and, finally, design submission. Sandia’s
MEMS experts and university professors review the design and determine the winners.

Sandia National Laboratories is a multi-program laboratory operated by Sandia Corporation, a wholly owned subsidiary
of Lockheed Martin Corporation, for the U.S. Department of Energy’s National Nuclear
Security Administration. With main facilities in Albuquerque, N.M., and Livermore,
Calif., Sandia has major research and development responsibilities in national security,
energy and environmental technologies and economic competitiveness.